The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the referenced prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in the relevant art.
The potential for carriage of goods such as motor vehicles in ISO shipping containers has been recognized. However, loading densities are too low to permit stowage on the container floor only. Accordingly there have been attempts to load passenger vehicles on structures within the container.
One approach to loading vehicles into a truck involves securing horizontal load rails to either side wall of a truck or trailer body. Usually a series of vertical load bearing logistic tracks are installed to the vehicle body interior walls. The logistic track supports longitudinal C-rails at discrete heights and extending along the length of the truck side wall. The C-rails support roller-ended cross beams at selectable heights, which in turn supports respective axles of a vehicle to be transported.
The presence of the vertical logistics track impinges on the interior dimensions of the loading space. Accordingly, the system when fitted to an ISO standard container may be incapable of backloading general palletized cargo stacked two-wide in the container. TRANS-RAK™ is a specialised car transportation system. TRANS-RAK™ is a retractable, car transport system fitted inside an ISO container. A rectangular steel frame is suspended by 4 lift wires on mechanical winches located within the frame members, the lift wires being operable in front and rear pairs independently by respective “lifting screws” adapted to be rotated by a separate rotary mechanical spanner from the rear of the frame. This enables each end of the frame to be raised and lowered and tilted to optimize the use of the container space.
The frame is installed semi-permanently within the container on corner “posts” in the form of a flat bar with keyhole attachment points, and are located into the standard corrugation recesses of an ISO shipping container. The bottom of the post is located behind the “toe rail” of the container bottom side rail and the top is fitted with a head piece which is bolted to welded tags located at the top rail. The lift wires are each terminated at a respective head piece. In its essence, vertical load is borne by the top side rail and the post takes opposed longitudinal loads. This permits the use of a flat bar construction. The post is not a compression member bearing on the bottom side rail per se, since compression would flex the flat bar post out of the plane of the side wall. The loading of the side wall is via the top rail.
To support the cars longitudinally, the frame is held at each corner by a webbing strap hooked into the frame at one end and tensioned at the other end by a ratchet winch keyed into holes formed in the post. Transversely, the frame is secured by the side walls of the container, and obliquely angled webbing straps keyed to the posts.
When not in use, the frame is raised up on its lift wires into the ceiling recess of the container to free up the space below for general cargo.
In operation, a car is driven onto the frame, lashed in place, raised to the transport position, and secured by the ratchet winches. Typically, 4 cars can be transported within a 40 ft hi-cube ISO container.
The advantages of this system is the ability to lift the frame to the top of the container for back-loading conventional cargo, and the maintenance of the full container loading width in the back loading condition. The apparatus can be used with a simple (albeit powered) hand tool. Disadvantages include that the frame needs to be braced by the webbing straps from within the container and beneath the load. There must be at least two people inside and outside of the container.